UK Newswire Archive
Hunger strikes in Swiss prisons by anarchist prisoners Marco, Billy, Costa and S
15-09-2010 15:40
Eco-anarchist prisoners Marco Camenisch, Luca Bernasconi, Costantino Ragusa and Silvia Guerini started an hunger strike the past 10th September.Crude (2010) – Oil Painting Protest over BP sponsorship in Tate Modern
15-09-2010 14:33
Tuesday (14 September) art activists from Liberate Tate staged a guerrilla art intervention in Tate Modern, covering the floor of the iconic Turbine Hall with dozens of litres of oil paint in protest at the museum taking sponsorship from BP.To the anarchists ...
15-09-2010 14:22
I'm writing as a proud part of the bristol anarchist/squatter movement. I'm not writing this to tear us apart - just to suggest ways we could improve our 'service'. I'm about to leave the area and am keen to put one or two opinions out there before I leave.I'd like to respectfully suggest that, as an anarchist in the SouthWest, while we do lots of very good work, we are falling miles short of where we should be in terms of supporting workers and unions right now. I'm as guilty of this as anyone else - I believe it's a trap very easily fallen into to. But I'm trying to find ways of changing, and just want to put my thought processes out there. I'm also aware that everyone has personal circumstances etc. I'm not trying to take a pop at anyone in particular, more our collective areas of struggle and focuses.
I'd appreciate respectful/constructive feedback.
On Monday the TUC decided to adopt a strategy of coordinated action against the savage cuts that threaten to further devastate UK's vulnerable groups. Bob Crow of RMT - the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers - has specifically called for a campaign of civil disobedience. The class war is on.
It seems to me that we don't do too much workers' solidarity work. It may be a simplistic way of looking at things but it's always seemed to me that the reason for this is the unions, workers' movements etc tend not to hold and shout anarchist beliefs, slogans etc.
So we don't agree with them on everything, and they tend to be more socialist than anarchist. But we're just toying with terms. The radical critique of the state is not something that you average union always has the comfort time to sit back and consider, whereas the average SW anarchist gets plenty of time to do exactly that while locked in their squat. I do not mean to attack the squat-dwelling anarchist (I'm one myself), but I think we should recognise that our existence within the squat rather than the workplace grants us a certain angle of privilege in that we have time to reflect upon the world, just as it also grants us a certain angle of disadvantage - no steady income etc.
That's a privilege that we could use to support those who do work in incredibly unjust environments, those who wish to do something about it. The unions, at the very least as they represented themselves at the TUC, are allies with which we can struggle for social justice. We may not agree with everything about how unions are organised and the beliefs that union reps hold, but hell when you're facing the wrath of maggie's little puppies surely some sense of context must occur to the clear-thinking.
Anarchism, to me at least, is about empowerment of everyone to do what they wish with their time upon this planet and encouragement of people to use that responsibility ... responsibly. There is so much good work to be done, so many vulnerable people and communities to support. We shouldn't insist on people holding every one of our standards before we deign to help them. Then we're sunk unless everyone spontaneously just ... realises the anarchist way! And in the meantime we're some closed community that only looks after itself.
If you think the fight for workers' rights is too state-ist, perhaps consider how you'd react (by 'you' I mean your standard squatting JSA-claimant) if squatting were criminalised or the dole were scrapped. Would you continue as if nothing ever happened? They're just state handouts right? We should look to our own solutions right? No gods no masters right? No! When you're in jail you fight for your crust of bread. Sometimes I think we're so desperate to condemn the state and prove the strength of our beliefs and existence outside it that we're scared of getting close enough to it to confront it.
So I guess I want to finish by encouraging people to get stuck into workers' rights/solidarity work. The tory party conference is on october 3rd in birmingham - there's been a call-out for an anarchist direct action bloc. I know some people involved in organising this demo and there's been a huge amount of work gone in, there's a LOT of people mobilising. It would be a shame not to see lots of black hoodies mobbing about fucking shit up.
In the shorter term, the Bristol IWW (Industrial Workers of the World Union) is meeting tonight at 7.30pm in the Smiling Chair Anarchist Bookshop on Stokes Croft. It's a pink and black building opposite the freeshop. The IWW welcomes everyone to attend and contribute, however only members can vote. Presumably after Monday's decision for coordinated action and calls for civil disobedience there'll be plenty to talk about!
Toffs Out - Take the class war to the Tory Party Conference
15-09-2010 13:22
Call-out for an anarchist direct action bloc to make themselves known to all different breeds of filth in brum on oct 3rdFight the Con-Dem cuts
Sunday Oct 3rd, Midday, Central Birmingham
http://toffsout.wordpress.com/
Over 100 years ago, the radical union the Industrial Workers of the World coined the phrase 'an injury to one is an injury to all. This is as true now as when it was first spoken. The Coalition government are threatening to unleash a wave of cuts that will devestate workplaces, public services and communities up and down the country, and we must fight back. Everyone will be affected, from pensioners, to young families who face child tax credits slashes to youth who rely on schools and community centres, workers being booted on to benefits and disability claiments being booted off them. We are seeing the retirement age hiked, pensions slashed, public services such as schools, hospitals and the postal service flogged to the highest bidder and an all out attack on pay and conditions across the public and private sectors. And why? To pay for a crisis caused by rich bankers and business leaders and further a staple Tory policy of privatization and putting profits first and ordinary people last.
We can fight back, and we can win, but only if we are united in the face of these attacks on all of us. A great place to kick off the fightback is outside the Tory party conference on Sunday Oct 3rd, where thousands of ordinary people (including the anarchist 'Direct action bloc') will gather to wipe the smirk from the smug faces of the politicians bosses and bankers who are forcing us to pay for their crisis while they continue to get richer. This is the class war, and we have no choice but to win. Coaches are being organised from Bath and Bristol, and coaches from around the country can be found at www.righttowork.org.uk
Bath Coach -Leaves 9am, Sunday Oct 3rd, Laura Place, Bath
Tickets - £10 waged, £5 unwaged
Contact bathagainstcuts@yahoo.co.uk for more info.
Bristol coach -Leaving central Bristol at 9am
Tickets £5 Anne 01179556198 or Tim 07866660335
nocutsbristol@yahoo.co.uk
Fair InTents - Howarths inaugral ecofair
15-09-2010 12:23
The weekend of 11th-12th September 2010 saw the first ever Fair InTents event held in Howarth, Yorkshire, which was an "ecofair" intended to promote Fair Trade goods, sustainable living and community action in the Howarth area.
Why we love to hate conspiracy theories: 9/11 Truth as threat to intelligentsia
15-09-2010 11:48
Why? It’s as though power did not covertly orchestrate its predation of us? Is that not the modus operandi of power?
London and Cambridge contacts for Smash EDO's Hammertime
15-09-2010 11:39
ITT's Hammertime, Brighton, Wednesday 13th Oct 2010, 10am.There are already local contacts available for London and Cambridge if you are travelling from there:
For London:
hammertimelondon@dsei.org For Cambridge:
hammertime-cambridge@riseup.net More Than Just A Bookfair
15-09-2010 11:22
Bookfair 2010 roundupWe reckon this year's bookfair was pretty successful, to be fair it was all down to the coalition, let's hope the cuts don't have too much of an effect.
We would like to thank the 47 groups, campaigns, authors, publishers and distros who ran stalls and all those who facilitated workshops and debates. We particularly want to thank the other members of our coalition: Bristol Radical History for organizing 11 stalls and one meeting room, Bristol Indymedia for running another meeting space, Kebele sound collective and friends and volunteers for organising and running the after party, Lemmy from The Chelsea pub and others for keeping the masses cidered up, and Classics and Co-Exist for the use of their venues plus anyone else we have missed.
Particular thanks goes out to the Kebele Cafe collective, some of whom appeared to not stop working for a moment all day, feeding the never ending queue of hungry bookworms. We unashamedly bow to you all. Of course, above all we want to thank those who attended the event, without which there would have been a lot of unloved books and stale cake.
Based on us running out of pamphlets by 3.30pm we estimate in the region of 800 punters through the door.
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We now need your help, on saturday 24th September at Kebele social centre we will be holding a feedback meeting. come and tell us what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like and we can use this to make next year event better. We know that not everyone was happy with some decisions made by the collective so come out from behind your computer screens, meet us and tell us! Alternatively you could come and say well done and buy us a cup of tea, it was after all, bloody hard work!
Would you like there to be a bookfair next year?
We really feels it's an important part of the regions radical calendar and it would be a shame to lose it.
If you would like it to happen in 2011 then please help it happen by joining the collective. The five of us can not continue to do it ourselves, it's not hard when shared between more people so if you want to get involved get in contact and keep the project alive.
L//R
The Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Ttrainer to face inquiry after greyhound doped with cocaine
15-09-2010 11:01
Obama's letter to Lula exposes US dishonesty with Iran: Lest we forget
15-09-2010 09:57
"The contradiction between President Obama's letter to President Lula and the US response to the Brazil-Iran-Turkey offer is the latest evidence that the US does not intend to negotiate with Iran in good faith and has hidden motives. Under pressure from the same neoconservatives and Israel lobby that pushed the Bush Administration to invade Iraq illegally, the Obama Administration is inventing excuses to avoid a peaceful resolution to the stand-off with Iran."Obama's letter to Lula exposes US dishonesty with Iran."
EDL Flash Demos
15-09-2010 08:41
The English Defence League’s new strategy of ‘flash demo’s’ is providing mixed results.US and its allies should look at their own nuclearpolicy before criticizing Iran
15-09-2010 07:42
Yes! to Fairer Votes Launch Party
15-09-2010 06:22
Celebrate the opportunity to change politics foreverYes! to Fairer Votes Bristol Launch Party tomorrow Thu 16th
We are being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to force the most important political reform since women got the vote.
Next May, there will be a refendum to choose a better electoral system, to elect better Governments.
Ever since the beginning of time, those with power have tried to keep it for themselves. Our backward existing electoral system guarantees that only 2 parties can win, thus ensuring arrogant Governments and corruption that cost this country dearly.
Voting YES next May will ease their claw-like grip on power. We need you to help spread the word. If you don't and we fail, we will be stuck with bad Governments and their consequences for the foreseeable future.
We are holding a Launch Party to both unite people and to publicise the most important issue of our generation.
Tomorrow, Thu 16th, 7:30pm
Friends Meeting House, Redland (http://bit.ly/bCh8Ao))
126 Hampton Road, Redland Bristol BS6 6JE
Real IRA 'to target bankers'
15-09-2010 06:22
BANKERS are on the target list for dissident Irish republicans in the Real IRA, according to a Guardian interview with the underground group.More than just a Bookfair
14-09-2010 23:22
Bookfair 2010 roundupWe reckon this year's bookfair was pretty successful, to be fair it was all down to the coalition, let's hope the cuts don't have too much of an effect.
We would like to thank the 47 groups, campaigns, authors, publishers and distros who ran stalls and all those who facilitated workshops and debates. We particularly want to thank the other members of our coalition: Bristol Radical History for organizing 11 stalls and one meeting room, Bristol Indymedia for running another meeting space, Kebele sound collective and friends and volunteers for organising and running the after party, Lemmy from The Chelsea pub and others for keeping the masses cidered up, and Classics and Co-Exist for the use of their venues plus anyone else we have missed.
Particular thanks goes out to the Kebele Cafe collective, some of whom appeared to not stop working for a moment all day, feeding the never ending queue of hungry bookworms. We unashamedly bow to you all.
Of course, above all we want to thank those who attended the event, without which there would have been a lot of unloved books and stale cake.
Based on us running out of pamphlets by 3.30pm we estimate in the region of 800 punters through the door.
We now need your help, on saturday 24th September at Kebele social centre we will be holding a feedback meeting. come and tell us what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like and we can use this to make next year event better. We know that not everyone was happy with some decisions made by the collective so come out from behind your computer screens, meet us and tell us! Alternatively you could come and say well done and buy us a cup of tea, it was after all, bloody hard work!
Would you like there to be a bookfair next year?
We really feels it's an important part of the regions radical calendar and it would be a shame to lose it.
If you would like it to happen in 2011 then please help it happen by joining the collective. The five of us can not continue to do it ourselves, it's not hard when shared between more people so if you want to get involved get in contact and keep the project alive.
L//R
The Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Chile - Riots and arrests on anniversary of military coup
14-09-2010 22:05
As President Sebastián Piñera spoke of national unity and moving past quarrels from recent history on the anniversary of the 11 September 1973 military coup that ousted democratically elected President Salvador Allende, protests and demonstrations occurred throughout Chile.Israeli troops open fire at protest in Gaza
14-09-2010 21:59
from signalfire.orgVIDEO-TOOL about PROSTITUTION
14-09-2010 21:11
"The purpose of the POWER TOOL is to fill the gap between sex work and society´s perception of it giving voice to the Prostitutes Collective and Sex Workers around the world.¨